In case you missed it, sketch group ManiPedi was featured as the cover story for last week’s Philadelphia Weekly. Pick up a copy while they are still in newsstands around the city and read the article online.

The next Camp Woods Plus at L’etage (624 S. 6th St.) will be next Thursday, December 6th and will feature sketch comedy from New York group We’re Matt Weir as well as Philly groups Daring Daulton and American Breakfast. As always, the show will be headlined with a set of brand new sketches by Camp Woods.

Philadelphia’s own Dom Irrera will be headlining at Helium Comedy Club this week. The home-grown comedian is known for his many stand-up specials, television and film work, and is a fixture at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

The Laff House’s Thanksgiving Weekend line-up will feature headliner Alex Thomas, known for his appearances in films such as Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Just Married, and Don’t be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. The show will feature 2011 Philly’s Phunniest Person Contest winner Tommy Pope and will be hosted by TuRae.

The final Hey Everybody! at PHIT will take place one week from today at 10pm at The Philly Improv Theater at The Shubin Theater (407 Bainbridge St. Philadelphia). Host of the show Aaron Hertzog is moving to Los Angeles and will be sending his show off in style with performaces by: Chip Chantry, Brendan Kennedy, Joe Dougherty, Mary Radzinski, Jim Grammond, Christian Alsis, Alison Zeidman, and Rob Baniewicz.

Chris, look for an email from WitOut with information to claim your prize (two tickets to a Philly Improv Theater show of your choice)! If we don’t hear from you within a week, we’ll be awarding the prize to our runner-up.

And speaking of our runner-up, congratulations also to Matt Nelson! Here’s Matt’s second place caption: “Brian was beginning to doubt Jess and her vast array of obscure colloquialisms, such as ‘Save a horse, ride a Ratcliffe.'”

To the rest of you: Thanks for participating, and best of luck next time! We’ll launch the next WitOut Caption Contest on November 15th.

Even though The Monthly Hour with James Hesky (as well as all shows, rehearsals, classes and workshops at PHIT) has been cancelled for tonight we still wanted to bring you this promo video made for the monthly variety show. Watch as Tim from Port Richmond and Jim from Fishtown prepare for the second round of their debate for a coveted seat in the State House of Representatives.

Oh hi, everyone! It’s me, Andrea! You probably haven’t seen me much lately because, well, I haven’t been to many shows, nor have I been standing awkwardly outside of the Shubin hoping to tell you how great you are. (Trust me, I STILL think you are the bee’s knees!) But here’s what I am here telling you. Don’t give up on your dreams.

1. Work-share options: And by this I mean, share your work! Get an amazingly funny and responsible sketch partner! Make her learn all the hard lines so you don’t have to. Bonus points if she’s toddler-friendly, and also can tolerate your unique quirks! (Like, for example, losing your costumes the day before your show. How were you supposed to know they looked exactly like your “donate immediately” pile?)

2. Flexible Scheduling: Ok, if you are lucky enough to have the option to be Stay At Home, as we say in the business – you’re in luck! You no doubt have a short roster of creative un/under-employeed folks to keep you company at the playground. Pitch these people your ideas, and take advantage of their after-dusk freedoms! This is how you find out what’s really happening in Comedy World, when you are home wrestling certain people into a slumber.

3. Affordable Child Care: What’s that? You are shooting a video and your only trustworthy babysitter has bailed? No problem! Your pride-and-joy is now in your sketch. Rejoice. Your YouTube videos now stand a chance at getting tens of viewers.

4. Utilize your audience: Lastly, don’t forget that being a family-person means you have a built-in audience. What more could a budding comedian ask for? Tell them your jokes, recite your hilarious monologues, polish your stand-up routine! Chances are, your family could ignore you completely, and go right on loading Elmo into the dishwasher. But you should get used to that kind of thing. After all, you want to be a comedy writer right? Silent rejection is just part of the territory.

This Tuesday, Comedy Dreamz at The Barbary (951 Frankford Ave.) returns for a night of comedy featuring Body Dreamz, Chris Cotton, Malwina, ManiPedi, Sharkee Katz, Bradley Beck, Nercorsexual, Joe Bell and more. With videos from Joe Stakun, Jared Dyer, and Down the Show. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10.

Myq Kaplan returns to Philadelphia this Wednesday to headline one night at Helium Comedy Club. Kaplan has appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and has since gone on to appear on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and in his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents... Tickets can be purchased online.

Tickets are still available to see Jim Norton at Helium on Thursday and Sunday night. Friday and Saturday shows are sold out. The comedian is known as the “third mic” on The Opie and Anthony Show as well as from his own HBO specials One Night Stand, Monster Rain, Lucky Louie, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

ManiPedi is debuting a new show this week at Philly Improv Theater. The sketch group will perform on Thursday and Friday night at 8:30 at PHIT (407 Bainbridge Street), with American Breakfast joining them on the first night and Local Holiday Miracle on the second. Next week they’ll be at it again with a second show, No More Wire Wangers (a remix of old sketches in preparation for their submission to Spank’d at UCB) on Thursday (7:30) and Friday (8:30). Tickets can be purchased online.

Philly Improv Theater will be holding open-call auditions in search of actors for their next Sketch Revue—written by PHIT Sketch Team Codename RZA—on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm. Sign-ups begin immediately. To secure an audition time please email your name, phone number, and a preferred time (if any) to contact@phillyimprovtheater.com. More information can be found online.

This Tuesday Rittenhouse Comedy at Noche will put on its final open mic at the Chestnut Street bar. The night will be a celebration and a good-bye to the Tuesday night stage stand-ups have been testing out material on for the past two years.

This Thursday, Philly Improv Theater will host the return of Bing Supernova’s Cavalcade of Fools, a stand-up comedy showcase hosted by the legendary comedian himself. This time around Bing will share the stage with guests Brendan Kennedy, Juliet Hope Wayne and Mike Rainey, with more surprise special guests promised.

The First Ladies of Comedy Fundraiser will take place this Friday at PHIT. The show will feature jokes performed by the significant others of some of Philly’s best comedians. All proceeds will go to Angel 34, a charity set up by Michelle Somishka, whose 2-year-old daughter Aubrey recently passed away from neuroblastoma. The show will be hosted by Mary Radzinski and jokes will be performed by Jaime Mulhern (Mike Rainey), Timaree Leigh (Carl Bocutti), Shannon Brown (Brendan Kennedy), MaryJo Butterly (Tim Butterly), Kim Broadbent (Chip Chantry), Lorraine Dean (Darryl Charles), Dennis Nguyen (Steve Miller-Miller) and Samantha Russell Craig (Fastball Pitcher Bob Gutierrez).

This Saturday, Rookie Card at The Raven Lounge will return with a show featuring stand-up comedian Brandon “Ketchup” Wilson, opening improv group The Self-Esteem Motivators, and Rookie Card will headline with a set inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Rookie Card will also be saying goodbye to founding member Jake Alvarez, as it will be his last performance with the group.

Chip Chantry has one of the most impressive resumes of any Philadelphia comedian. He tours the country as a feature act, has been a finalist in Helium Comedy Club’s Philly’s Phunniest Person Contest every year, and won last year’s Best Stand-Up Comedian at our very own Witout Awards for Philadelphia Comedy. Now he, along with Mary Radzinski, plans to share some of their knowledge about the art of stand-up comedy by teaching a class at Philly Improv Theater. We asked Chip some questions about his class, and what he plans to share with his students.

WITOUT:It may be a little known fact that your comedy career got started with help from a comedy class, do you hope to create some future Chip Chantrys with your class (and what, in your own opinion, would that mean)?

CHIP CHANTRY: Yes, it did. And it may be a little known fact that your full name is Aaron Gregory Jamiroquai Hertzog. But no. The world does not need any more Chip Chantrys- insecure, yet totally lovable and sexy comedians.

WO:There are some that say “funny can’t be taught”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, what are you going to teach in your class?

CC: Absolutely. Being funny (on purpose) is something that I feel you either have or you don’t. I’m just trying to help people hone the craft of stand up comedy. But I can’t MAKE someone funny. I can just give them some tools and encouragement. And people generally get out of a class what they put into it. Some aspire to be famous comedians and writers. Others might take the class for fun, or to conquer a fear of public speaking. To put it in terms that you would relate to, Aaron, it’s like teaching the craft of crocheting, or pottery. I’m never going to be great at those things, because I have the fine motor skills of a frightened goat. But I can learn some of the ins and outs and have some fun with it.

WO:How do you think your experience as an elementary school teacher will help you with teaching fresh-faced, hopeful, stand-up comedians?

CC: The classroom has given me some patience. It’s also taught me to break more complicated concepts down into simpler terms, and convey them in a more basic way at first, and then build up to the complicated mess of stand up comedy.

WO: Say some nice things about your co-teacher, Mary Radzinski? How do you plan on splitting up your teaching duties? Good cop/bad copy style, perhaps? Which one of you is which?

CC: Mary is one of my favorite comedy writers in this here town. Her joke crafting (as seen onstage and on the twitters) have a word economy and voice that are top-notch. Her tweets are like jazz. But, like, not the shitty kind of jazz that everyone’s mom has programmed on station #5 in her 2006 Hyundai Sonata. But we are splitting it down the middle. We are each trying to be good cops. I was thinking more Good Cop/Hot Cop, because I just bought myself a new pair of break-away pants.

WO: What have you learned in your years as a stand-up that you hope to share with your students? Are there some things you think it would be better for them to learn on their own through experience?

CC: I think I’ve learned just as much what NOT to do, than what to do. So hopefully I can help people avoid pitfalls, and take the right steps on their path… to GREATNESS. But, you also have to fail sometimes to learn, so some lessons can’t be taught by me. They’ll have to learn them on their own.

WO: Can you give some free stand-up advice here as a teaser for those on the fence about taking your class?

CC: Yes. BABY STEPS. I still tell myself this to this day. Write five minutes of new material. Try it out at an open mic. If everything bombs, except for ONE joke, you have succeeded. Do the same thing the next week. If everything bombs except for ONE joke? Great! Now you have TWO jokes. BABY STEPS.
I’m full of this crap, Aaron.

All through the month of October, Philly Improv Theater House Team Asteroid will present their B Movie format – an improvised tribute show celebrating the fun of the low-budget sci-fi/horror films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The group has released this second teaser video for their shows.